|
|
CONTENT & PROCESS SKILLS
Reasonableness of Solutions  The Right Units/Dimensional
Analysis The Right Size The Right Picture-Graphs
& Diagrams |
|
 |
||
|
|
 |
Judging the reasonableness of solutions has proved to be one of the most challenging mathematics skills for elementary students in the Houston Independent School District. The SMI staff believe that students need manipulatives and other kinesthetic experiences that require quantitative measurements to develop this skill. The following are some other activities that are useful for judging the reasonableness of solutions.
Encourage students to always include the units of their data and check to be sure that the units are reasonable. A person's weight should be pounds or Newtons; not inches, square meters, or decibels. A student who is using a measurement tool to collect the data will associate the appropriate units with the physical attribute. When calculating measurements using more than one kind of data, have them check for the reasonableness of the units in their answers. For instance, a reasonable unit for walking speed is meters/second, not just meters or seconds. Dimensional analysis is a good way to check to see if your answer is
reasonable when you are calculating problems with multiple types of
units. For more information about dimensional analysis, you may wish
to consult a chemistry teacher a nearby high school, or visit this web
site:
The development of the concept of place value is important for students to acquire in their early elementary years. Manipulative experiences help children appreciate how different one, ten, and a hundred are. Math manipulatives are also useful for students to correct their own errors. Check Yourself For more information about how many significant digits your answers
should have, visit this web site:
Check Yourself
|
||||||||||||
|
|
When
you ask your students to organize and graph data they collect in laboratory
work, you have the opportunity to check on their mastery of a variety
of skills and knowledge. Don't always give them charts and graph axes
that are already labeled. Even though it takes extra time correcting
idiosyncratic data sheets, it is important for students to be required
to make decisions such as: